The visuals did not appear very passionate in the embrace seen Monday between WCCO-TV sports anchor Mark Rosen and recently retired Twin Torii Hunter.
"It was a nice embrace," Rosen assured me. "We were laughing our butts off when I saw him. We hugged it out; we laughed about it. It was fun to see him."
This televised hug was momentous because of a Hunter interview that aired Sunday night on WCCO. Now retired from Major League Baseball but spending his days teaching Twins players at spring training in Florida, Hunter hammed it up with all sincerity on TV Sunday.
"Rosen's not here. Where is he anyway that he's not here doing this interview?" Hunter asked the camera person. "He's always been there for me for a long time, 17 years. For him not to be here right now … I think it's because I'm not playing anymore."
After Hunter's lamentation, anchor Angela Davis jokingly asked Rosen if there was more to his relationship with Hunter. Rosen announced that he would be on a plane to Florida the next morning so there would be a reunion.
Via Twitter, I advised Rosen to arrive at MSP three hours early (it's taking longer to get through security now that they've fixed things) and asked Marky to give Torii a kiss from me. Next thing I knew, my newest Twitter follower was one @toriihunter48.
There was no kissing. There wasn't even a dinner, and I told Rosen I'd even pay for a reunion meal (keep it under $100, boys). "I wish I had time for dinner down here," said Rosen. "[Torii] appreciated my retweet and all the stuff people said. He still looks like he can play; with [Rod] Carew [bouncing back from] his heart issue and Torii and the rest of the gang, some of those coaches look more ready to play than the players. It was good to see Torii. It's not like I haven't seen him in five years. I saw him a few months ago. It was more of a chuckle than a hug."
Lessons on good choices
Had to ask Rosen what's going on in the heads of three now-suspended-for-the-season Gophers basketball players with too much proximity to a sex video stupidly posted on social media.
"No bleep," said Rosen.
While I seriously doubt that disgraced former U AD Norwood Teague was ever interested in reining in anybody else's bad behavior, it's hard to believe that U coach Richard Pitino was remiss about impressing upon his youngsters that unseemly behavior involving SEX might cause egregious consequences. After all, Pitino's much-revered dad, coach Rick Pitino, may be leaving the University of Louisville as a result of a sex scandal currently under investigation.
"I can criticize Richard Pitino for lots of things," said Rosen, "but the bottom line is I don't know how much of that you can put at his feet. These are 18-, 19-year-old kids. Because they dribble a basketball, this is stuff they have to deal with, and you can't teach these kids enough about protecting their careers and name and brand. You can say all you want, scream all you want, but no one's babysitting them on a Friday night at 1 o'clock in the morning. Pitino's got like 12 players; Jerry Kill [former U football coach] had like 80. They get pounded with this stuff about making good decisions; everybody's watching you."
Time for coaches to be specific when talking to chuckleheads brimming with testosterone about what good decisions are.
Sven was clothed, not naked
In the commercial break preceding Wednesday's appearance on Fox 9's "Jason Show," I asked Jason Matheson if he had seen the photos of naked men posted on @RichardTMoody, the Twitter account of the event planner and fashion producer behind IamMoody.com.
Those images may have been on my mind later when Matheson shared on air his amusement about my Tuesday column item regarding the Instagram photo posted by KARE 11 meteorologist Sven Sundgaard, showing him kissing his significant other, Robert, on Valentine's Day. I told Matheson I couldn't wait to see his nude photos, which made the audience laugh. Ah, I misspoke. I meant Matheson's shirtless photos. Not happening, Matheson assured us.
Reached in Amsterdam, Moody said, "I will have my assistant take whatever he's posting off."
Via Twitter, I asked if the assistant was angry with Moody, but he didn't respond.
C.J. can be reached at cj@startribune.com and seen on Fox 9's "Jason Show." E-mailers, please state a subject; "hello" does not count. Attachments are not opened.